killing the black middle class

the majority of the wealth that exist in black and latino communities is the equity of the home.

being middle class and black is really different from being middle class and white. welcome to intersectional analysis folks! so even white and black families have similar income levels, the amount of wealth (which is property owned, stocks and bonds, inheritance, etc.) is astoundingly different. black america owns 1/10 of the wealth that white america does.

the study talked about here defined the middle class not simply by income, but by educational achievements, assets, home ownership, health costs and budgets. in other words, they saw the designation of middleclass as a designation of lifestyle and not simply how much one gets in a paycheck.

you know its funny. i grew up with my mother moving into the black middle class. she may even have moved into the black uppermiddle class. but, it wasnt until my mid-twenties that i began to understand how different being black middle class was from being white middle class. and i began to understand that being black upper-middle-middle class to whites meant being lower-middle class or upper-working class.

the audio and visual of the video is not segued…so it can be a bit jarring.